Ex
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Nick's way of dealing with his ex-girlfriend might not be the right way when him and Greg get in trouble for it. Follows the events of 'Backstabber'
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Another story of mine! Hope you like it!**

**And happy mother's day to everyone! :)**

* * *

"Nick?" Greg knocked on Nick's door for the fifth time. No answer. He even tried calling him on his phone. No answer, either. As he decided to go home and accept that his friend wasn't home, Nick finally opened the door.

"What do you want?" Nick asked grumpy.

"Picking you up for the movies. It was your idea, remember?" Greg walked in. "What's going on?"

"I don't have time for this now." He was walking around rather hastily, picking up some stuff.

"Why didn't you call? I wouldn't have come here had I known..." He kept rambling rather annoyed for a while until he noticed Nick's face. "Jesus, Nick. What happened?"

"Go home. I gotta go," Nick said while not-so-gently pushing Greg out of his home. He walked out, too, and closed the door.

"Where are you going?"

Nick unlocked his car without answering Greg's question.

"Wait, you're driving?"

"Why not? I didn't have anything to drink... although I sure could use a drink right now."

"But your eye. It's swollen, I'm sure you can't see anything." Greg was referring to Nick's obviously beat-up face.

"Just one eye, Greg. I can see perfectly fine with the other one," he replied quite annoyed.

"You can't drive with only one healthy eye. It affects your ability to drive, you know that. And besides that, did you have a doctor check it out?"

Nick laughed humorlessly as he rolled his eyes. He opened his car's door, but Greg grabbed his arm and kept him from getting in.

"I won't let you drive."

"Get your hand off of me, Greg," Nick replied rather amused. "I'm in a hurry."

Greg sighed. "Let me drive you."

"Just go home, Greg. I can take care of this myself."

"No! Tell me what the heck's going on and let me drive you wherever you're going. You're not driving."

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, anyway?" Nick laughed.

"Oh I don't know, I could..." He pushed Nick to the side and quickly got into the car and buckled up.

"What the hell, man? Get out!"

"Heh. Try driving away now." Greg laughed. "Come on, get in, I'll drive you."

Nick opened the door on the passenger side and got in.

"So, where to?"

Instead of answering, Nick reached into Greg's pocket and got his keys out. "I hope you have a full tank!"

"...H-Hey! Give it back!" Greg quickly got out of the car and ran after Nick. Nick already started the car, but Greg was able to get in at the last second. "Pull over!" Greg demanded, but Nick didn't listen to him.

"You had to meddle, right? You just** had** to." Nick was driving quite fast.

"Slow down a little," Greg said nervously. "Where are we going?"

"**I **am taking care of something. **You're** going home."

"What? No! Pull over and let me drive. You're driving like a lunatic! You're gonna kill somebody!"

On the way to Greg's place, Nick had to listen to Greg's speech about driving savely and other things that annoyed him right now. They arrived. "Now get out."

"Nick, come on."

"Out. Now."

"I'm not getting out. I want to know what happened to your face. Who did that to you?"

Nick opened the door on Greg's side. He didn't seem to care too much about Greg worrying about him. "Greg, get out. I'm already running late, you're making it worse."

"Then tell me where you're going and what's going on."

He did care, after all, and turned the car around. "You remember Rachel?"

"The brunette from the coffee shop?"

"Yeah. We've dated for about two months."

"You never told me," Greg said a bit surprised.

"We both agreed it wasn't anything serious. We were just enjoying the time together. I was at her place yesterday. We were sitting on her couch when suddenly this guy walks in. He wasn't really up to asking any questions before he came at me. He even threatened to get his gun, I don't know if he really has one or not, but I didn't feel like finding out so I left."

"Nick... I'm sorry..." The next few minutes were a silent drive until it hit Greg. "Wait a minute, where are we going now? You're not gonna... Pull over, now!"

"Greg, I don't..."

"I can't let you do that! This guy might be dangerous and you're too old to..."

"Will you shut up for a minute and let me explain? I'm not driving over to him. I'm driving over to her. I had some stuff at my place that belongs to her and she has some of mine."

"...That's it?"

"Yep."

"You won't drive over to this guy and beat him up or something?"

"No." Nick laughed. "I'm not stupid. He's a dangerous lunatic, I know better than to mess with someone like that. I already checked him out, he even served time for assault twice. I just want my stuff back and give Rachel hers so that I can forget I ever met her."

"Well if it's worth something, I'm sorry you two broke up. She seemed nice."

"Nice girls don't cheat on their violent boyfriends with you, Greg."

* * *

They arrived at Rachel's. Nick asked Greg to stay in the car. He did, and had to wait quite some time. After about half an hour, he got nervous. Nick said that Rachel's boyfriend wasn't there, but he still worried. After all, he just wanted to give her the stuff back she left at his place and take his stuff back. How long could that take? He didn't want to walk in there, though, and didn't even know which apartment she lived in, so he decided to call Nick. No answer. He had to keep waiting.

Another 20 minutes later, a man walked up to the apartment building. Nick described the boyfriend pretty good to Greg. About six feet tall, dark, wavy, long hair. Muscular built and some tattoos on his arms. The guy approaching the building looked exactly like that and Greg feared he might be the boyfriend. Not a good thing with Nick inside his girlfriend's apartment. He quickly texted Nick to let him know about this and got out of the car. "Excuse me!"

The man turned around to him. "Yeah?"

"I'm, uh... I want to go to the Casinos but I think I'm kind of lost."

The man looked Greg up and down. "The Casinos?"

"Yeah. You know, I wanna try my luck." He faked a smile.

"You're already trying your luck being here. It's not a nice neighborhood for a tourist."

"I-I know," Greg stuttered while he showed a map in his hand. "That's why I want to get out of here and go to the strip, but I don't know how. I'm bad at reading maps, could you help me?"

The man sighed annoyed. "It's not that hard." He explained the way to the strip without looking at the map.

"So..." Greg looked at the map. "This way?"

"No." He rolled his eyes. "This way. You need to take a left there, not a right. You don't want to end up in Arizona, do you?"

Greg laughed. " 'Course not." He saw Nick walking out of the apartment building, sneaking past the man Greg was talking to. "Well, thank you. I'm sure I'll find the way." He quickly turned around and walked towards the car.

"Wait a minute." The man made a few steps towards Greg. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

"Oh, I get that a lot. Thanks again for your help. Have a good day." He quickly walked away.

* * *

Greg got in the car as he sighed. Nick followed after the boyfriend got inside the apartment building. "What were you talking about with him?" he asked confused.

"You didn't read my text message, did you? I was trying to safe your ass! I needed to distract him so that you could get out of there."

"Oh. Well, thanks. And he didn't recognize you?"

"What? ...He said I looked familiar. Why?"

"Didn't I mention? The last time he got arrested, you worked his case."

"...What?" Greg was outraged. "No. No, you did not mention that, Nick!"

"Relax. He didn't recognize you. Everything went fine."

"Yeah but imagine what could've happened if he did... So, what took you so long, anyway?"

"Just drive me home."

Greg started the car. "Sure you don't want to see a doctor?"

"The swelling's getting better already, I don't need a doctor."

"Okay. But I need an explanation. What took you so long?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Nothing..."

"Oh my god... I can't believe you! You hooked up with her, didn't you?"

"You know, I really don't see how this is any of your business," Nick replied annoyed.

"What the hell's wrong with you? She's not right for you. She's dangerous!"

"Stop being melodramatic! Her boyfriend's dangerous, I'll give you that. She's not."

"She lied to you. She put you in a dangerous position and did it again today! God knows what would've happened if I hadn't distracted him." Greg was quite frantic. Not only was Nick endangering himself for a women, but the fact that he didn't really seem to care all that much was what drove him crazy.

"Will you stop it already? We're both adults and know what we're doing!"

"Oh yeah, you're sure about that? Have you looked into the mirror lately?"

"It's nothing." They arrived at Nick's place. Nick got out of Greg's car. "Thanks for driving me although I didn't want you to come with."

"Anytime," Greg replied annoyed as he drove away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys for the reviews and story alerts and stuff! :) Hope you'll enjoy this story! It's kind of building up for something a little bigger :)**

* * *

"Greg!" Russell yelled from inside his office.

Greg quickly walked in. "Yeah?" He was a little surprised to find Brass and a quite angry looking Russell sitting inside.

"Explain this to me," Russell said while holding up a piece of paper.

Greg grabbed it and read it. "What? A complaint against me? ...Matthew Willis... Who's that?"

Russell rolled his eyes. "Apparently he knows you."

"Okay, let's calm down. It's not unusual to get a complaint in our work field. We're the bad guys to them." Brass chimed in, trying to calm Russell down and support Greg.

"As a cop... maybe. But we're CSIs, we don't do at-home-follow-ups in our cases."

"He claims I harassed him at home? Russell, that's ridiculous. I don't even know the guy," Greg defended himself. He kept on reading. "The date says it was yesterday. I didn't even work yesterday, it was my day off..." Then it dawned on him. "Willis?"

"You finally remember?" Russell asked sarcastically.

"Oh no... It's a misunderstanding. It was a coincidence, I swear!"

"Oh, a misunderstanding? Sure, his lawyer will be delighted to hear that!"

"It says in his file he served time for assault and was released from jail a few months ago. What's your interest with him?" Brass tried to find out what really happened.

Greg hastily shook his head. "It's nothing like that, you have to believe me."

"Then what happened? Explain," Russel demanded.

"Well... You should probably talk to Nick."

* * *

"How'd it go?" Greg stood in the doorway to the evidence room.

Nick was processing some evidence at the light table. He didn't answer, just gave Greg a look.

"What will they tell Willis' lawyer?"

"They're not sure yet. He won't believe you it was a coincidence, since you acted like a tourist when you're clearly not. They'll have to tell the truth, more or less."

"So you told them what happened?"

Nick laughed humorlessly. "I didn't have a choice after your reaction."

"I'm sorry, I was caught off guard. I didn't know what to say." After a short pause, Greg went on. "Can't I just say I was checking up on him?"

Nick shook his head. "They won't let you lie. I won't let you lie, either."

"Come on. Let me take the blame. I'd rather have a complaint before he knows you hooked up with his girlfriend... again. Who knows what he'll do to you when he finds out."

"Oh please. He won't do anything when he finds out I'm a CSI. They'll tell him and his lawyer what we did there, end of story."

"Yeah... It'll be fun to explain, I'm sure," Greg replied sarcastically.

* * *

They explained to Willis' lawyer what happened. That it all actually was a coincidence and that Greg didn't want to harrass him in any way. Much to Nick's surprise, Willis actually abandoned the complaint. Nick learned his lesson and didn't call or meet Rachel again for the next five days. It would be the end of their relationship, so he thought. Nick and Greg were called to a crime scene and on their way to Nick's car. He parked it in the lab's parking lot, as usual. Unusual was what the two CSIs found when they reached the car.

"Nick?" Greg tried to get his attention.

"Just a second, it's loading," Nick said while looking at his cell phone, meaning to show Greg an online article.

"Nick..." Greg stopped and put his hand on Nick's arm to make him stop, too.

"What?" He looked up from the phone. "You have got to be kidding me. What are **you** doing here?"

Matthew Willis was leaning against Nick's car. "Nice car, dude."

"Get lost." Nick walked a few steps closer to the car. Greg hesitated for a second, then followed.

"So how exactly does it work? You arrest a guy and he gets the girl?" Willis asked with a mean grin on his face, pointing at Nick.

Nick walked to the driver's side, where Willis was standing, and opened the door. "Get in, Greg." Both CSIs got in the car.

Willis kept standing next to the car, staring at Nick. "You better keep your hands off my girl."

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Greg asked quite agitated.

"He's just trying to let me know he's the bigger man. …What a jerk."

"Oh yeah? It sounded like a threat."

"Please. What could he possibly do that won't send him back to jail?"

"If people would think about the consequences of their actions we'd be out of a job," Greg replied rather mocking, rolling his eyes.

"You're not scared of him, are you?" Nick asked a bit amused.

"Why not? He claims he has a gun and seems crazy enough to use it... and tough enough not to need one."

"Don't let him intimidate you. He doesn't want to hurt me, he just wants me to know he can."


	3. Chapter 3

**Next chapter, guys. Enjoy!**

* * *

Greg tried not to think about Nick's problems. He had to concentrate on his work, after all. And thinking about it all day wouldn't change anything. Plus, Nick didn't seem to worry, so he figured he shouldn't, either. He had to work a crime scene in an apartment complex. The scene was up on the 16th floor and he was in an elevator on his way down, on his way back to the lab. A man was already standing in the elevator when Greg got in.

"Did you know..." the man said after the elevator got moving, "that most people who were attacked in an elevator had this weird feeling when they walked in?"

Greg gave him a confused look. "Excuse me?"

"Everytime we get in an elevator with a stranger we have to trust that this person won't just, I don't know, do whatever he wants to do to us. He'd just have to push the emergency stop button and the elevator would stop moving..."

Greg's confusion quickly turned into terror when the man had his hand at the emergency stop button. He slowly put his hand on his gun, preparing for whatever might happen. The man pushed the button to the basement and grinned at Greg. He kept his hand on his gun, though, and stayed alert. The elevator finally arrived at the first floor and Greg walked out.

"Not a nice feeling being observed, isn't it?" the man said before the doors closed.

* * *

"So you're trying to tell me this was a coincidence?" Greg was walking up and down in the break room.

"Exactly." Nick was sitting at the table, reading a newspaper, not paying too much attention to Greg's ranting.

"I'm telling you, it's not! He's threatening us!"

"Oh come on, don't be so sensitive! A stranger says weird stuff to you in an elevator, no reason to freak out. It's Vegas, it happens."

"No. No, that wasn't some regular weirdo. This was different."

"Calm down now. Nothing happened and nothing will happen."

Greg stopped walking up and down. "He's threatening us. How can you be so calm?"

"Because that's all he's doing."

* * *

Greg was angry with Nick for trying to downplay what happened. Had Nick been there in the elevator, Greg was sure, he'd feel threatened, too. Instead, he made fun of Greg being worried. Three days had passed since the incidence happened, and Nick and Greg were working a murder scene together. It was supposed to be Nick's night off, but he was called to the scene at the last minute. He was a little tired, but had to fill in for Sara. "Dammit," he said as he was hitting his flash light on the palm of his hand, trying to get it to working. "I think the batteries are dead. You got some for me?"

"Sure," Greg replied, carelessly throwing the batteries at Nick, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Ouch! Watch it, man!"

"Sorry," he mumbled insincere.

"You got a problem with me?" Nick asked annoyed. It wasn't the first time Greg was rather rude towards him. Back then he figured he was in a bad mood, but now he started to think he was doing this on purpose.

"Should I?" Greg didn't look up.

"Come on, cut the passive-aggressive crap and tell me what's wrong!"

"Nothing's wrong, Nick. Everything's** fine**." The way he said it, he didn't even believe it himself.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. Whatever. It's not like I begged to be here today. It's not my fault Sara's sick, so don't let your anger out on me."

"Sara isn't sick, she just had to work another crime scene. And this doesn't have anything to do with her. Or you being here."

"So what's this about? Is it because of the guy in the elevator? It wasn't my fault, okay?"

"No, it wasn't. But you still could've taken me serious!"

"There was nothing to be taken serious! You have no reason to be worried. Even** if **the guy has anything to do with Matthew Willis still doesn't mean there's any need to take his threats serious. Honestly, Greg, you're being too sensitive."

"I'm not being sensitive, I'm just not being stupid!"

"What, you're calling me stupid now?" Nick laughed humorlessly. "Not everyone's out there to get you, don't be so damn paranoid!"

This kind of hit home for Greg. He really was a bit paranoid these days. No wonder after everything he's been through, he was getting a bit more cautious then necessary, but he couldn't help it. He just shook his head, feeling hurt and annoyed and got back to work.

Nick did, too, but after a short while, he approached Greg again. "Wait. What do you mean, Sara's not sick? Why would Russell lie to me?"

* * *

Russell asked Greg and Nick to meet them in his office when they come back from their crime scene. They had no idea what it was about, but both were surprised to find Sara waiting in the office with Russell.

"Already fresh and healthy, Sara? You must tell us your secret," Nick said sarcastically as he walked in. Greg rolled his eyes. Right now, everything Nick said and did annoyed him.

"Please close the door, Greg," Russell said. "Have a seat."

Greg sat down, but Nick kept standing with his arms crossed. Sara stood next to Russell's chair, where Russell sat down. "Sorry you had to work on your day off, Nick, but..."

Nick interrupted him. "Spill it already. What's going on? And why the hell are you lying to me?" After the little fight he had with Greg, he was a bit more aggressive than usual.

Russell sighed a bit. "It's about Matthew Willis."

Nick rolled his eyes. "What about that jerk?"

"He claims you attacked him," Sara said quite bluntly.

"Well, I didn't. That's it?"

"I need you to go with Sara. The day shift's leading the case, but they let Sara look into their files," Russell explained.

"You're actually investigating?" Nick almost yelled outraged.

"Come on now, Russell, you know this guy's clearly lying!" Greg stood up for Nick despite their fight. They had each others back.

"You know very well that we have to investigate. Now, I'm not getting IA into this at the moment, but at some point I'll have to. It's important we do everything by the book."


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for your reviews! :)**

* * *

Nick rolled his eyes annoyed as he was walking into the evidence room where a CSI from the day shift was already waiting for Sara and him.

"Hey Ramirez," Sara greeted her.

"Hey." Marcia Ramirez was around Nick's and Sara's age. She had dark, curled, shoulder length hair, big brown eyes and a cute smile. "I already processed some of the evidence. I don't think you'll like my findings."

Nick looked a bit confused. "What could that possibly be?"

Ramirez looked a bit thoughtful between Nick and Sara. "Over here." She walked them to the light table. "Willis claims you beat him with this baseball bat."

Nick raised an eyebrow. He's seen that baseball bat before, he was sure.

"It has your fingerprints on it."

Sara looked at Nick. She noticed the look on his face. It wasn't a surprised one, as she would've imagined. "Can you explain this?"

"This baseball bat was in Rachel's apartment."

"But there's more," Ramirez went on. "And this one's a bit more delicate. Follow me." They walked into the A/V lab.

"Is this a video of you and him?" Sara asked shocked. The video showed Nick and Matthew Willis in front of Rachel's apartment minutes before the claimed attack.

"Where's this tape from?" Nick asked.

"A supermarket across the street," Ramirez explained.

"You talked to him?" Sara finally asked.

"Well, yeah. Greg was so worried when he thought Willis threatened him that I decided to talk to him about it, that there was no need to threaten us."

"He threatened you guys?"

Nick shook his head. "There was just one incident in the parking lot and another in an elevator. Greg thinks it was a threat, but I'm not too sure about it."

Ramirez nodded. "I'll need to talk to him. But tell me about what happened in the parking lot first."

* * *

Greg sat in the break room, propping his head on his hand. He looked like he was almost falling asleep, but he was really looking at pictures that were lying on the table.

"Hey." Nick walked in. "What're you doing?"

"Nothing," Greg replied. "...Just looking at Matthew Willis."

"Come again?"

"The pictures Ramirez took. Of his injuries."

"What are you looking that at for?" Nick grabbed something to eat out of the fridge and sat down next to Greg.

He shrugged. "Have you seen them?" When Nick shook his head, Greg slid the pictures closer to him. "His injuries would fit to an attack with a baseball bat."

"...I didn't do this. You know that, right?"

"Of course. I mean, he's clearly lying about who did it. But somebody beat him up."

"And he's trying to frame me for it."

Greg nodded. "Still, I wonder what kind of person lets himself get beat up with a baseball bat just to take revenge."

"Well, not too long ago you said it yourself. This guy's insane."

"Nick... What were you talking with him about?" Greg asked after a short quiet moment.

"I already told you. I told him to leave us alone."

"Why? He's dangerous, you know that. You should've given it a rest."

Nick rolled his eyes a bit. Despite what happened, he still didn't think Willis was a real threat. "You went on about how scared you were. It wasn't fair from me to drag you into this, I wanted to make it right."

Greg nodded thoughtful. "You shouldn't have talked to him just because of me..." He felt bad for giving Nick a hard time earlier. After all, it really wasn't his fault that Willis threatened them. And now that he knew that Nick actually did take his worries serious, he felt stupid.

"It needed to be done, anyway. Who could've known this guy would do something like accusing me of beating him up?"

* * *

"For a guy that lets someone beat him up on purpose, he's not stupid." Ramirez talked the case through with Sara. She allowed Nick and Greg to be present, too. "He made sure there was some evidence linking you to the attack. But that's about it. We don't have anything else backing up his story. The way your fingerprints are placed don't suggest you used the bat to beat him, it looks more like you picked it up. The video tape we got doesn't show any aggressive behavior, no judge in the world would allow this as evidence."

"Well, that's great news, isn't it?" Greg said excited.

Ramirez smiled. "I'll present the case to the DA. As soon as Willis' lawyer gets informed about this, I'm sure he'll drop charges immediately."

* * *

"I don't feel like celebrating, Greg," Nick said while they were walking to their cars in the CSI parking lot.

"Come on! It'll take your mind off of Rachel and her idiot boyfriend. I think that's just what you need tonight!" Greg tried to persuade him into joining him, Henry and Hodges at a guy's night out.

"What I need is some rest and some time alone." He smiled tiredly.

"You're sure?"

Nick nodded.

"Alright, call me when you change your mind!" They each got into their cars and drove off.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Sorry my updating's taking so long lately. Hope the upcoming chapters will make it up to you! :)**

* * *

The guy's night out got a little out of control. All three of them had way too much to drink, but a lot of fun. Too bad they didn't remember all of it.

Greg woke up with a start in his bed after hearing a loud thump coming from his living room. Slowly, he crawled out of bed and made his way towards where the noise came from. His head was pounding from being hungover. "Oh... yeah, right..." He finally remembered bits of last night. Henry and Hodges slept over at his place. They all took a cab together and got out at Greg's, forgetting that they wanted to get home, so they just stayed at his place.

The noise he just heard was Henry falling off the couch. "Oooh... I think I broke my arm..." he mumbled while getting up.

"Your arm's fine." Greg walked into the kitchen to make some coffee. "Where's Hodges?"

Henry looked around. "We lost him! Oh my god, we lost him!"

"Calm down. I'm sure he's here somewhere. Or woke up and went home. ...Did he even come with us?"

"I think so..." Henry walked into the bathroom. As soon as he got there, he released a scream.

Greg quickly walked to him. "What?"

"Sorry..." Henry laughed embarrassed.

Hodges crawled out of the bathtub. "My back's killing me."

"You're too old to sleep in a bathtub, huh?" Greg said mocking.

"I wanted to take the bed, but you wouldn't let me." Hodges rolled his eyes. "I'm hungry, what's for breakfast?"

* * *

The next day, Greg was running a bit late for work. He quickly grabbed his stuff and hurried out of his apartment. "No, just go ahead, I'll meet you there," he said to Nick on his cell phone while walking up to his car. "Yeah, just make sure you... What the hell?"

"_What's wrong?"_

"My... car. Someone smashed the window on the passenger side!"

"_What? Well, is anything missing?"_

Greg took a look inside. "No, I don't think so."

"_Maybe it wasn't on purpose."_

Greg sighed annoyed. "I don't care why, it's just... great. Now I have to drive to the shop."

"_But you can't do that **now**, we need you on this case."_

"I know, I know..."

* * *

Greg left the crime scene to take some evidence to the lab. Nick followed three hours later. "Hey, where's Robin?" Nick asked as he walked into the DNA lab. "...And what are you doing?"

"Robin's on a break, I think," Greg replied without looking up. He was deep into his work.

"Did you find this watch at the scene?" Nick walked up closer and looked over Greg's shoulder.

"Just drop your evidence, I'll tell Robin to process it."

Nick turned around as he noticed Robin walking up and down the lab, looking in. "What's up with her?"

Greg sighed a bit. "Don't you have any work to do?"

"I have, but I need to talk to Robin first, I..."

Greg interrupted him. "Well, she's right out there. Just talk to her."

"But why is she out there? You said she was on a break."

"Nick, please! I'm busy, can't you see?"

"Sorry." Nick rolled his eyes. "Frickin' PMS, huh?" he joked.

"Bye bye." Greg gave Nick a look.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Nick walked back into the lab. Greg was now sitting at the computer, waiting for some test results.

"Okay, what the hell are you working on? I looked through the evidence log, you either forgot to mention the watch or this has nothing to do with our case!" Nick was getting a bit impatient. "And Robin said you banned her from the lab, what the hell, man?"

Greg waited for the test results to show before answering Nick. "This doesn't have anything to do with our case, it's about my car."

"What?"

"The smashed window. I found this watch in my car, under the passenger seat."

"...So?"

"So I thought I might find some DNA on it and I did."

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"You'll never guess whose DNA I found." He turned the computer screen to Nick.

"...No way! Matthew Willis?"

Greg nodded.

"...What do you think that means?"

"Well, for starters... He knows where I live and even knows my car."

Nick sighed. "Greg, I'm so sorry I dragged you into this. What are we gonna do now?"

"I'll let his lawyer know about this."

"...Aaaand? That's it?"

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?"

"We need to talk to him again."


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you guys for your nice reviews! This is the last chapter of the story but I've already got a new one waiting to be published. And I promise you, the next story will clear up any questions and solve the secret that this story ends with! So stay tuned, stay alert, the next story will be out in a few days! :)**

* * *

Brass knew as well as Nick and Greg that the evidence Greg recovered in his car would probably be dismissed in a courtroom. He recovered it himself, didn't tell anyone about it and even processed the evidence himself. Willis' lawyer would have enough reason to doubt the authenticity of the evidence. Still, it was enough to bring Willis in and talk to him. Lucky for them, he talked to them without his lawyer present. All three of them were in the room with him.

"Does this watch look familiar?" Brass asked while walking up and down in the interrogation room.

"It's mine. Where did you find it?" Willis looked confused at Brass.

"Oh, you didn't even notice you dropped it in his car?" Brass laughed amused.

"What?"

Greg showed Willis a picture of the smashed window of his car.

"What's that?"

"The window you smashed in," Nick explained.

"That wasn't me."

"Then how come we found your watch inside the car?"

"...Wait, **this** watch? Nah, man, I lost it days ago."

"Before or after you let yourself get beat up?" Brass asked while hinting on Willis' accusations of Nick beating him with a baseball bat.

"Oh, now I get it. Your idea of revenge for my accusations against you?" He gave Nick a look.

"We all know you lied about the attack, just admit you smashed his car window and we won't press charges."

"Screw you! I didn't do this and I'd rather get charged for criminal property damage I didn't commit before I admit to this!" Willis was starting to get really upset and raised his voice.

"No, no, no, this is not a case of criminal property damage. It's harassment. You're looking at five years here if you don't come clean, alright?"

"What?" Willis jumped off his seat, bashing his hands on the table. "I didn't do this! **He** planted the watch in his god damned car!"

Brass asked an officer to sit Willis down on his chair again.

"Get your hands off me!" he yelled while sitting down. "You're not gonna get through with this! I didn't do this! Why should I?"

"You were angry your plan to get me in trouble didn't work, that's why you thought harassing him would work, right?" Nick asked with a grin on his face.

"No, I didn't do that! When my case against you got rejected I gave it a rest!"

Nick, Greg and Brass all shared a look. "Alright, here's how it's going down..." Brass cleared his throat. "You'll leave both of them alone. We see you near them again, you're getting charged with stalking. Now get the hell out of here." After Willis left the room, Brass sighed. "As much as I hate that piece of crap, he's either a good liar or was telling the truth."

Greg nodded thoughtful. "How did he know where I live, anyway? Or what car I'm driving..."

"Maybe he was following you around. You guys seriously think it's a coincidence that his watch was in Greg's car?" Nick shook his head.

"Let's just hope he was honest when he said he wants to give it a rest."

* * *

"Are you sure about that?" Nick and Greg walked through the halls of the lab.

"I think he got the message. He won't bother us anymore, I'm sure," Greg replied.

Nick wanted him to spend the next few nights at his place, in fear Willis might visit Greg. "Maybe you should think about getting a gun for your home."

"What?" Greg laughed a bit. "That's a bit excessive, don't you think?"

"Why? Don't tell me there hasn't been the one or the other day you thought a gun would be useful."

"The few times I've been in a dangerous situation in my own home... A gun wouldn't have been useful."

Nick rolled his eyes. "But this time it could. Let's just assume he..."

"Nick, please. Stop it. I don't want to think about what could happen. I want to believe that nothing will happen, alright?"

"It wouldn't hurt to be prepared for what might come, you know."

"Nothing will happen, Nick, don't worry."

"Let's hope you're right." Nick sighed.

"Besides, I got other things to worry about. Our guys night out got a little out of control... We had way too much to drink... We all woke up at my place. And some of my stuff is missing."

Nick chuckled. "Hodges and Henry stole from you?"

"I suspect Hodges."

"Why?"

"Because he slept in the bathroom and my toothbrush is gone."

Nick laughed. "Why would he take your toothbrush?"

"I don't know, but I had it before I walked out the house. When I woke up, it was gone."

Nick patted Greg's back when his cell phone rang. "Well, you'll have to live with that loss, I'm afraid." Nick answered it. "Stokes. Yeah, we just came back from our crime scene." He looked at Greg. "...You're sure? Alright, thanks, Russell. We'll be right there."

* * *

Greg and Nick arrived at Russell's crime scene. They thought they knew what was expecting them, but they had no idea.

"Where is he?" Nick asked as he walked up to Russell.

Without saying a word, Russell walked them towards Lake Mead. Matthew Willis body was sitting on the ground in plain sight, leaning against a tree. "According to David, cause of death looks like suicide, but we're pretty sure it's murder."

"Why's that?" Nick asked as they approached the body. Then, he saw for himself what Russell was talking about. 'You're welcome, Greg.' Nick read the note stapled on Willis' jacket. Both Russell and Nick looked at Greg. He didn't know what to say, he was shocked.

Nick walked Russell a few feet away from the body. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about this on the phone? I never would've brought him here had I known..."

"I needed him to see this," Russell replied as he walked back to Greg. "Do you recognize the handwriting?"

Greg shook his head, obviously still in shock. "No... What is this? What is going on?"

Neither one of them knew an answer to Greg's desperate question. They would try everything to find out who murdered Matthew Willis, but quite some time would pass before they would find out.

* * *

Ende.


End file.
